Free Web NovelChapter 54: Artemis (1)
"You aren’t going to hurt me right?" Aurora asked following behind Vincent to wherever he was taking her.
Vincent chuckled, finding her innocence to be funny but dangerous in the long run. "Isn’t it too late to be asking that question?"
"It is but it wouldn’t be bad to hear the answer now. I’m asking because I want to hear you confirm with your own mouth so that one day if you do hurt me, I’ll remember what a liar you are." Aurora had a sense of relief around him but because she was unaware of her past with him, she didn’t fully trust him. She was following the feeling her body was giving her as she did with Seth. If Vincent hurt or lied to her she wasn’t going to stay with him.
"Liar?" Vincent looked over his shoulder to glance at her. "You’ve been living with a liar for how many years? I don’t recall you looking angry or sad around Minnie. Why have the rules changed for me?"
Aurora halted her steps because he didn’t answer what she asked him. He completely ignored saying yes or no to her question. "Are you going to say it or not?"
Vincent also stopped after hearing the feistiness in her voice. If he had plans to hurt her, he would’ve done so already. Why would he go out of his way to go to a town where the guards and king would want his head if he did not care or wanted to protect her? He was being patient waiting for her past memories to start coming back. "No, I will not hurt you, Aurora. I don’t need you poisoning me."
"Good," she continued walking. "And another question. If I did not belong in the Hamilton household and you needed to save me, why did I leave your side and went there? The Hamiltons had to be good at some point and you had to have done something wrong."
"I honestly have no idea why you went back there that day. You were upset about something and went to visit the young Hamilton girl who was Minnie’s mother. You never told me how you met her when you’ve never been around humans before. I don’t know what I did to make you upset nor do I know how they found out about you being special. I just don’t trust anyone from that house."
"You can trust my sister. I thought I could trust Samuel but he wanted to take me back to Minnie. It’s hard to come to terms that we were so close and he gave up on our bond as siblings so quickly. I know we’re not related but still, how can someone forget those memories?" She couldn’t forget the look of guilt in Samuel’s eyes like he regretted the decision. Aurora hoped he’ll realize how much his decision had hurt her.
"Greed and money will cause people to be selfish and only think about themselves. He wants to take his father’s position as heir and to achieve that he must give you up. Such is life," Vincent replied.
"Such is life?" Aurora repeated. It wasn’t good for money to have such a hold on people and their decisions. "You’ll end up all alone if you let money and greed control you."
"You say that because you value people over money which is rare in this kingdom. Not even the king himself values his people over money but he is good at pretending he does. People change and you need to accept it. Holding on to old memories and feelings will just end with you hurting yourself. If someone cared for you, given the opportunity, they would never betray you so easily. An example would be that girl for helping you leave."
He was right but she liked to believe there was still a window of opportunity for her to fix her relationship with Samuel. Years spent together in fun and laughter should not be thrown away. There had to be some kind of explanation as to why Samuel came to the conclusion of immediately handing her over to Minnie.
"Who is my mother?" She asked, moving on to the next question. She might as well get some of these out the way seeing that they had a long walk.
"Mother? More like a creator. She’s on the way back to my home. I’ll take you to her."
Aurora felt anxious about the person she was going to meet. She had been waiting a long time to meet the person who had given her life. They continued walking until they reached the edge of a forest and she was certain she remembered this as a place many entered but never returned. Vincent seemed confident about his safety and casually walked in.
"Don’t you want to meet her? I can hold your hand if you’re scared," he offered out his hand for her to take. This will be frightening for her at first but she had to know about her true home. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Aurora cautiously placed her hand in his and entered the forbidden forest. "Is it just a myth that people die here? I mean, it has to be one of those stories used to scare children."
"It’s not a myth. If you wander inside somewhere you don’t belong, prepare to be killed. The forest won’t kill anyone who belongs to Artemis. You were created here and lived here for a long time. That was how I came to meet you. We butt heads at first but then warmed up to each other. The first place you visited outside of here was my home."
Aurora looked at their hands when Vincent’s hold on her hand tightened. She figured there was some romantic relationship between them and it must’ve been strong if he kept trying to save her. She felt bad for not remembering anything about it. To have someone caring for her but their face did not ring a bell.
"We’re here," Vincent said, stopping when they came upon a lake.
Aurora would’ve never imagined a beautiful lake to be here hidden away from the outside world. What surprised her, even more, was a woman sitting by the water staring out at a glowing tree.
